Oculus Rift

mid_gen · 24 Apr 2015 at 08:47

Had a decent play around with the DK2....thoughts:

* 8K is going to be needed for the killer consumer experience
* I'm glad I got the DK2 now, because I won't have the GPU for 8k for years

That said...Elite is mind-blowing! Anyway, this was ostensibly bought for professional advancement so I will be diving into the UE4 support on the weekend....

ci_newman · 24 Apr 2015 at 09:08

Well, this is going to put the Vive headset ahead of the competition!

http://www.techradar.com/news/weara...s-oculus-rift-will-not-ship-this-year-1291795

MadMossy · 24 Apr 2015 at 09:22

The call basically said "no large volume shipments" which could still mean they may possibly release CV1 as a limited number before full blown commercial release.

CGrieves · 24 Apr 2015 at 10:11

I really hope they don't release CV1 until the GPU hardware, software, sensors, controllers and APIs exist to make it a complete, meaningful experience that developers will support and consumers will subsequently buy into.

VR is not just a headset. Making a headset is easy, it's screen in a box with some lenses. I get the impression that some of the alternative headset manufacturers are jumping on the bandwagon and rushing to get a product out there on the shelves that they can get a return on, without really considering how it's going to work. History is littered with such failed products.

MadMossy · 25 Apr 2015 at 09:36

Really interesting video by David Holz about Leap Motion and VR, what to expect over the next few years in terms of visuals and motion tracking.

What is even more amazing is the examples he gives are all in the prototype stage and likely to be with us in just a few years.

MadMossy · 27 Apr 2015 at 20:06

Oculus just posted an update on their kickstarter page, its for backers only but the most important part was the last sentence.

Oculus said:
"It’s 6 weeks until E3 2015, and we can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on. We’re looking forward to seeing you at the show!"

Surfer · 27 Apr 2015 at 20:34

Oculus just posted an update on their kickstarter page, its for backers only but the most important part was the last sentence.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Oculus
"It’s 6 weeks until E3 2015, and we can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on. We’re looking forward to seeing you at the show!"

/fingers hovers over DK2 buy button. (has been for last couple of months!)

Dammit! A consumer release? :eek:

MadMossy · 28 Apr 2015 at 07:12

Surfer said:
/fingers hovers over DK2 buy button. (has been for last couple of months!)

Dammit! A consumer release?

It's either going to be an CV1 announcement or they are just being the ultimate tease. We have already seen GearVR so whats left other than the Rift.

groove200 · 30 Apr 2015 at 23:51

Ive been toying with the idea for months , Elite , Project cars etc are begging me for one.

Will have a read back through the thread a bit as I need some honest experiences , and most importantly if its fairly simple to get working or whether im going to spend more time faffing about with settings and config files.

That announcement should also probably make me wait.

Which im not inherently very good at

Surfer · 1 May 2015 at 10:15

Will have a read back through the thread a bit as I need some honest experiences , and most importantly if its fairly simple to get working or whether im going to spend more time faffing about with settings and config files

Well unfortunately atm you will probably spending almost as much time tweaking as playing Elite: Dangerous. There are swathes of pages of vr tweaking tutorials, fixes to give more fps, to reduce judder etc.

It also seems a bit random whether you will be plagued by judder... some ppl with very high rigs (Titan X etc) are still plagued by it and then you have some people with comparatively medium rigs playing it very smoothly.

And whilst the Elite dev team seem to answer questions in other areas of the forum..you don't seem to see them much in the VR forum...and OR users are left to sort things out themselves.

groove200 · 1 May 2015 at 11:48

Hmmm....sort of what I had heard . Not sure I want to spend more time faffing around than playing atm if I'm honest.

I know it's not retail yet , and obviously have to adjust my expectations accordingly.

But after all that....is it actually awesome ?

MadMossy · 1 May 2015 at 11:58

I'm in the same boat, I really want a Rift but I know it will be a royal pain in the backside to get things working, is it really worth the expense now when actual retail units will be here in 6 months or less.

maxilive · 1 May 2015 at 12:04

I've had access to a kit for a while and I don't think I would purchase one unless you are a hardcore racing/flight sim user. There just isn't enough lasting experiences to be had to justify the price unless you are looking to develop for it.

They are still fantastic devices and great to use you will just struggle to find reasons to use it after the first few weeks until you pop back to see what new demos users have created every few months or so. That is unless you play a lot of flight/racing sims then they have a lot more uses.

I would wait for an upgraded version or for the HTC Vive as the screendoor effect and lower res becomes more noticeable the more you use it.

MadMossy · 1 May 2015 at 12:08

I backed the XGVR on kickstarter which should be shipping this month, so I will at least have something to use basic VR stuff with.

CGrieves · 1 May 2015 at 13:43

groove200 said:
Hmmm....sort of what I had heard . Not sure I want to spend more time faffing around than playing atm if I'm honest.

I know it's not retail yet , and obviously have to adjust my expectations accordingly.

But after all that....is it actually awesome ?

You'll get a variety of opinions, but my DK2 still blows me away 6 months on. I'd have bought it at twice the price for Elite alone.

Actually I'd have paid the price just to sit other people down and give them their first VR space taxi ride.

MadMossy · 1 May 2015 at 21:46

Looks like consumer level VR will be available this summer.

fortune.com said:
Warman says being first to market in high-end VR puts a lot of pressure on content, which is why the companies are distributing the software development kit (SDK) for free this spring. Gattis says by summer fans who don’t want to wait for the consumer version this fall will be able to get the HTC Vive Developers Edition

source: https://fortune.com/2015/04/21/htc-vr/

Digital X · 1 May 2015 at 21:52

I will consider the consumer one, but for now the DK2 is still pretty good. If it's less than I paid for mine, around £350 I'll be happy.

groove200 · 1 May 2015 at 23:08

thanks for the input guys....mixed bag , but im still getting itchy. I do play a lot of flight sims and racing games , and thats really all i want it for , anything else is a bonus.

Is resistance futile ?

Boycey0211 · 2 May 2015 at 00:38

groove200 said:
thanks for the input guys....mixed bag , but im still getting itchy. I do play a lot of flight sims and racing games , and thats really all i want it for , anything else is a bonus.

Is resistance futile ?

Depends what flight sims you play, it only works with certain ones

RoyMi6 · 2 May 2015 at 07:34

Only buy a DK2 if you're happy to try "experiences".

Elite will blow you away.

DCS will make you sweat at the prospect making it back to base with bingo fuel.

Project Cars will let you experience something in VR that's so close but so far from perfection.

All the demos available will leave you wanting more.

But ultimately you'll only be physically capable of playing in 30 minute stints because your eyes get fatigued from the constant adjustments as they try to make up for the lack of resolution that make everything that little bit harder because:

Elite has legible text but just too much text to read

DCSs hud and screens are illegible as they're too small

Project cars is plagued with performance issues

And all the demos end up being finicky to run.

Only you know if £300 is worth it. Saying that, having bought 1xDK1 and 2xDK2 (for multiplayer demos) I can safely say that it was worth it for me, and I have every intention of buying every iteration of these devices in the future.